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kingdom_n	duke_n	king_n	york_n	1,885	5	9.6256	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91297	The third part of a seasonable, legal, and historical vindication of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, laws, government of all English freemen; with a chronological collection of their strenuous defenses, by wars, and otherwise: of all great Parliamentary Councills, synods, and chief laws, charters, proceedings in them; of the publike revolutions of state, with the sins and vices occasioning them; and the exemplary judgements of God upon tyrants, oppressors, perjured perfidious traitors, rebels, regicides, usurpers, during the reigns o [sic] four Saxon and Danish Kings, from the year of our Lord 600. till the coronation of William the Norman, anno 1066. Collected out of our antientest, and best historians, with brief usefull observations on and from them. / By William Prynne esq; a bencher of Lincolns Inne.; Seasonable, legall, and historicall vindication and chronologicall collection of the good, old, fundamentall, liberties, franchises, rights, laws of all English freemen. Part 3	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1657 (1657)	Wing P4102; Thomason E905_1; ESTC R207432	279,958	400

Canterbuny after the decease of Offa. About the year 788. there being some difference amongst Historians in the year there was a great Council held at Ade and after that ano●her Council kept at Wincenhale or Pincanhale in Northumberland now called Finkely Sir Henry Spelman conceives that these Councils were principally summoned to prevent the incursions of the D●nes who in the year 787. came into Britain with 3 ships to discover the Coasts and prey upon it slew King Bricticus his Provost and after that many thousand thousands of the English at sundry times After this there was another Parliamentary Council or Synod held at Aclea or Aclith at which time Duke Sigga by wicked Treason slew his Sovereign Alfwold king of Northumberland and was not long afterwards slain himself by the Danes who miserably wasted and destroyed that rebellious kingdom of Northumberland with fire and sword as a condigu punishment for their treasons Rebellions and Regicides of their Kings Anno 792. there was a Council held at a place called Fincale where the Archbishop with his Suffragan Bishops and many others were present What the occasion of it was appears not only our Historians relate That Osred king of Northumberland was this year chased out of his Kingdom by his rebellious subjects when he had reigned but one year and Ethelred son of Mollo substituted King in his place Whereupon Osred gathering forces together to expel Ethelred which had expulsed him out of his Realm was in his march into it again taken prisoner and slain by this Usurper at Tymmouth Upon occasion of which Insurrections and Wars I conceive this Council was most probably summoned Soon after this usurping Regicide Ethelred was slain himself even by those seditious Subjects who expelled and slew Osred to advance him to the Throne The common fate of bloody Usurpers especially in this kingdom of Northumberland as our Historians observe King Offa in the year 793. called a Provincial Parliamentary Council where Archbishop Humbert and his Suffragans with all the Primates and Nobles were present wherein he treated with them about founding the Monastery of St. Albane the first Martyr in the place where his Corps was found endowing it with lands and Privileges Placuit omnibus Regis propositum Whereupon they concluded the King should go to Rome in person and procure from the Pope the Canonization of St. Albane and a Confirmation of Privileges to the Abbey he intended to build He repairing to Rome accordingly the Pope commending his Devotion gave him his full as●ent both to found a Monastery and endow it with all such Privileges as he desired enjoyning him that returning to his Country ex Consilio Episcoporum Optimatum suorum by advice of his Bishops and Nobles he should confer to the Monastery of St. Albane what Possessions or Privileges he would which he should grant or confirm to it by his special Charter first and afterwards he would confirm his original with his Privilege and Bull. The king hereupon receiving the Popes Benediction returned home and held two great Councils for the setling of the Lands Privileges and Liberties of St. Albanes The one at Celcyth where were present 9 Kings 15 Bishops and 20 Dukes as John Stow relates in his Chronicle who all subscribed and ratified his Charter of Lands and Privileges granted to St. Albane The other Council was held at Verolam which Matthew Westminster thus expresseth Congregato apud Verolamium Episcoporum Optimatum Concilio unanimi omnium consensu voluntate beato Albano Amplas contulit terras possessiones innumeras Quas multiplici Libertatum privilegio insignivit Monachorum vero conventum ex Domibus bene Religiosis ad Tumbam Martyris congregavit Abbatem eis Nomine Willegodum praefecit cui cum ipso Monasterio Jura Regalia concessit This king then reigning over 20 Shires at the same time by the unanimous assent of the Bishops and Nobles z gave out of all those Counties to the English School at Rome Peter-Pence in English called Romescot Yet he privileged the Church of St. Albane with so great Liberty that this Church alone should be quit of the Apostolical Custom and Tribute called Romescot when as neither the King nor Archbishop nor any Bishop Abbot or Prior or any other in the Realm was exempted frow this payment And likewise granted that the Church of St. Albane should faithfully collect the said Romescot from all the County of Hertford wherein the said Church is situated and receive the money collected to that Churches own use And that the Abbot thereof or a Monk constituted his Archdeacon under him should exercise Episcopal Authority over all the Priests Laymen within the possessions belonging to the Abbey and that he should make subjection to no Archbishop Bishop or Legate but only to the Pope himself So as that Church hath omnia jura Regalia and the Abbot thereof for the time being Pontificalia ornamenta And that by the great Charter of this king then made with the unanimous consent of all his Bishops and Nobles in this great Council What Lands he gave to the Monastery of St. Augustines and Christ-church in Canterbury and the Archbishops there you may read at large in the Chronicles of William Thorne col 1775. and Evidentiae Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariensis col 2203 2219. King Offa deceasing An. 797. his Son Egfrid so soon as he was settled in his Fathers kingdom imitating the pious footsteps of his Father devoutly conferred many Lands and possessions on the Church of St. Albanes and confirmed them by his Charter and Privilege with all those other Lands Privileges and Royal Liberties which his Father had conferred on the said Church to enjoy them in the freest manner Et ejus Donatio ut perpetuae firmitatis Robur obtineret juxta morem Romanae Ecclesiae omnium Episcoporum Comitum et Baronum totius imperii sui ●ssembled in a general Council of the Realm Subscriptionem signum crucis apposuit Causing all his Blshops Earls and Barons of his whole Realm to subscribe and ratifie his Charter and Donation with the sign of the Cross after the manner of the Roman Church That it might be of perpetual force and validity Moreover declining his Fathers covetousness in all things whatever he for the exaltation of his Kingdom had diminished out of the possessions of divers Monasteries he out of a pious devotion restored and confirmed with his Privilege or Charter to all who desired it This pious King Egfrid as our Historians observe and let others note it who gain their Kingdoms Powers Possessions by Bloodshed and Treason was taken away by sudden death on the 141 day after his Fathers decease which gave great cause of grief to all the people of his Realm not for his own sins which is not to be supposed but because his Father pro Regni sui confirmatione sanguinem 〈…〉 ●ffudit for the confirmation

that Elfrid being a Peer of the Realm dying perjured as asoresaid was adjudged to forfeir all his Lands for Treason after his death only by his Peers in a Parliamentary Council and that if the king had seized on them without their judgement it had been an unjust Rapine by his own Confession but being legally confiscated to him by their Judgement it was no Rapine but Justice for him to seize and Piety to dispose of them at his pleasure to this Church What Churches and M●nasteries he built and repaired throughout the Realm What Lands he restored to St. Augustines Church at Canterbury on the day of his Coronation by the Assent of his Bishops and Nobles though long detained from it and how he gave the Lands of Folcastan in Kent escheated by the Danes destruction of the Nunnery there to Christ-church in Canterbury you may read in the Marginal Authors William of Malmesbury informs us that Baldwin Earl of Flanders sent Embassadour by Hugh King of France to King Ethelstan to demand his Sister for his Wife brought over with him divers rich presents and Reliques Amongst others the Sword of Constantine the Great the Lance of Charls the Great and one of the 4 Nails that pierced our Saviours body set in plates of Gold A piece of our Saviours Cross inclosed in a Christal Case c. all which he presented to the King and Lady cum in Conventu Procerum apud Abindonium proci postulata exhibuisset Which intimates that this King consulted with an assembly of his Nobles about his Sisters Marriage to the King of France as a mater of Parliamentary consideration Ingulphus Hist p. 876 877 878. records that Turketulus was his Chancellor and chief Counsellour who affected not Honors and Riches refused many Bishopricks offered him by the King Tanquam tendiculas Satanae ad animas evertendas and would never accept of any Bishishoprick all his life being Content only with his own Lands and Wages That all his Decrees were so just and legal that they remained irrevocable when once made That he was a great Souldier and fought most valiantly against the Danes and often gloried and said He was most happy in this that he had never murdered nor maimed any one Cum pugnare ●ro patria maximè contra Paganos licite quisque possit He esteeming the slaughter of such Pagan Enemies in defence ef his Country lawfull and no murther nor maim King Aethelstan deceasing without i●●ue his Brother Edmund succeeded him An. 940. who upon the false suggestions of some of his Souldiers and Courtiers dedeprived Dunstan whom he had made his Chancellour and one of his privy Council yea ranked amongst the Royal Palatines and Princes of his Realm of all his dignities and Offices The very next day after being like to break his Neck as he rod a hunting over a steep Rock had not his horse miraculously stopped at the Rocks brink in his full carier he immediatly sent for Dunstan and to repair the injury done him rod presently to Glastonbury and made him Abbot thereof Presently after Anlaffe King of Norwey whom Aethelstan had driven out of the Kingdom of Northumberland came with a great Navy and Army to York being called in by the perfidious and rebellious Northumberlanders who instantly revolted to him and elected him for their King Whereupon he marching Southward with a puissant Army purposing to subjugate the Realm of England to himself King Edmund gathering his forces together encountred him and after a bloody battel fought a whole day between them at Leicester with great loss on both sides Odo Archbishop of Canterbury and Welstan Archbishop of York perceiving the danger on both parts and the Destruction of the Realm made this Agreement between them that Anlaffe should quietly enjoy the whole Northeast part of England lying North of Watlingstreet and Edmund all the Southern part thereof during their joynt Lives and the Survivor of them enjoy the whole Realm after the others decease But Anlaffe soon after wasting the Church of St. Balter and burning Tivinagham with fire was presently seised on by Gods avenging Judgement and miserably ended his life About the year 940. Hoel Dha Prince of all Wales sent for six Laymen eminent for authority and knowledge out of every Kemut or hundred of his Realm and all the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors of his Realm dignified with a Pastoral staff who continuing all together in prayer fasting and consultation all the Lent did in this Welsh Patliament make and enact many Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws which they divided into 3 parts and books for the better Government of the Realm and Church which you may read in Spelman In the 22 Law whereof they thus determine Tres autem sunt homines quorum nullus potest per Legem impignorare contra aliquod Iudicium Primus est Rex ubi non poterit secundum Legem in Lite stare coram judice suo agendo vel respondendo per dignitatem naturalem vel per dignitatem terrae ut Optimas vel alius So that by the Laws of those times not only the Kings of England but even the petty Kings of Wales were by their very Natural and Royal Dignities exempted from all personall Tryals and Judgements against them in any Courts of Justice seeing they had no Peers to be tryed by In the year 940 Reingwald or Reginald the Dane comming with a great Navy into Northumberland slew most of the best Inhabitants of that Realm or drove them out of it He likewise seized upon all the Lands of St. Cutbert and gave his Lands to two of his Souldiers one of them called Scula who afflicted the miserable Inhabitants with Grtevous and intollerable Tributes whence even unto this day the Yorkshire-men as often at they are compelled to pay Tributum Regale A Royal Tribute endeavour to impose a pecuniary Mulct on the Land which this Scula possessed for the easing of themselves Scilicet Legem deputant quod Paganus per Tyrannidem fecerat qui non legitimo Regi Anglorum sed barbaro et aliegenae Et Regis Anglorum hosti militabat Nec tamen quamvis multum in hoc Laboraverint Pravam Consuetudinem huc usque Sancto Cuthberto resistente Introducere potuerunt writes Simeon Dunelmensis The other part of those Lands one Onlasbald seised upon who was much more cruel and oppressive to all men than Scula extraordinarily vexing the Bishop Congregation and People of Saint Cutbert and particularly seising upon the Land belonging to the Bishoprick Whereupon the Bishopoft endeavouring by perswasion to draw him to God and entreating him to lay aside the obstinate rigor of his mind and refrain himself from the unlawfull Invasion of the Churches Lands else if he contemned his admonitions God and St. Cutbert would severely avenge the Injuries done by him to them and others He with a diabolical mind contemning his admonitions and Threats swore by his Heathen Gods that

the Danes Anno 1007. cum Consilio Primatum suorum as Florentius Wigorniensis Simeon Dunelmensis Polychronicon and others express it by the Counsel of his Nobles sent Messengers to the Danes commanding them to tell them quod sumptus et Tributum illis dare vellent that they would give them Costs and Tribute upon this Condition That they should desist from napines and hold a firm peace with them to which request they consented and from that time Costs were given them and a Tribute paid them of thirty six thousand pounds out of all England Henry Humindon Bromton thus relate the business Rex et Senatus Anglorum dub●i quid agerent quid omitterent communi deliberatione gravem conventionē cum exercitu fecerunt ad pacis observationē 36000 mil. librar ei dederunt A clear evidence that this Agreement and Peace was made and money granted and raised in England by common advice consent in Parliament or Council Infr●●duit Anglia tota velut arundinem Zephiro vibrante collisum Unde Rex Ethelredus confusione magna consternatus pecunia pacem ad tempus quam armis non potuit adquisivit writes Matthew Westminster Rex Anglorum Ethelredus pro bono pacis Tributum 36 mil. librarum persolvit Dacis as Radulphus de Diceto words it After which the King this year made Edric aforementioned Duke of Mercia and that by the Providence of God to the destruction of the English a man of base parentage but extraordinary crafty eloquent witty and unconstant surpassing all of that age in envy perfidiousness pride cruelty and Treason who soon after maried the Kings daughter Edith whereby he had the better opportunity to betray the King and kingdom with less suspition King Ethelred though often vexed with the wars and invasions of these forein Enemies yet he had a care to make good Laws for the benefit peace and safety of his people whereupon having thus made Peace with the Danes An. 1007. he summoned and held a Great Parliamentary Council at Aenham on the Feast of Easter at the exhortation of Aelfeag Archbishop of Canterbury and Wulstan Archbishop of Yorke who together with the rest of the Bishops and all the Nobles of England were present at it Regis Aethelredi Edicto concrepante acciti sunt convenire Where they all ●●●embling together de catholicae cultu Religionis reparando deque etiam rei statu publicae reparando vel consulendo plura et non pauca utpote divinitus inspirat● ratiocinando sermocinabantur In this Council they debated resolved on divers things and enacted many wholesom Laws and Edicts for the reformation and setling of Religion and Churchmen the advancement of Gods worship the Government of the Church and State the advancement of civil Justice and honesty and defence of the Realm by Land and Sea beginning with the things of God and the Church in the first place which you may read at large in Sir Henry Spelman Some Laws where of I shall here transcribe being very pertinent to my subject Cap. 5. Sapientes decernunt Ut Leges quique coram Deo et hominibus aequas statuant et tueantur iniquas autem omnino deleant justitiam pauperi atque diviti pari exhibentes lance et pacem insuper et concordiam piè in hoc seculo coram Deo et hominibus retinentes Cap. 6. Sapientes etiam decernunt Ut nemo Christianum et insontem pretio tradat extra patriam praesertim in Pagani alicujus servitium Cap. 7. Sapientes etiam decernunt Ut pro delicto modico nemo Christianum morti adjudicet sed in misericordia potius Leges administret ad utilitatem populi et non pro modico eum perdat qui est opus manuum Dei et mercimonium ejus magno comparatum pretio De quolibet autem Crimine acuratius decernito sententiam praebens juxta factum mercedem juxta meritum ita scilicet ut secundum divinam clementiam levis sit poena et secund um humanam fragilitatem tolerabilis Cap. 9. Nemo dehinc in posterum Ecclesiae servitium imponat nec clientelam Ecclesiae injuriis afficiat nec Ministrum Ecclesiae 〈…〉 Episcopo Cap. 21. Verba et opera rectè quisque dispona● et Jusjurandum pactamque fidem cautè toneas Omnem etiam Injustitiam è patriae finibus quâ poterit industriâ quisque ejiciat et perjuria formidanda Cap. 22. Urbium Oppidorum Arcium atque Pontium instauratio sedulo fiat prout opus fuerit restaurentur renoventur vallis et fossis muniantur et circumvallentur Militaris etiam et Navalis Profectio uti imperatum est ob universalem utique necessitatem Cap. 23. De Navali Expeditione sub Paschate Cavendum etiam est ut celerius post Paschatis festum Navalis expeditio Annuo sit parata Si quis Navem in Reipublicae expeditionem designatum vitiaverit damnum integrè restituito et pacem Regis violatam compensato Si verò eam ita prorsus corruperit ut deinceps nihili habeatur plenam luito injuriam et laesam praeterea Majestatem So one translation out of the Saxon Copy reads it but another thus Naves per singulos annos ob patriae defensionem et munitionem praeparentur po●ique sacrosanctum Pascha cum cunctis ut ensilibus competentibus simul congregentur Qua etiam poena digni sunt qui Navium detrimentum in aliquibus perficiunt notum cunctis esse cupimus Quicunque aliquam ex Navibus per quampiam inertiam vel per incuriam vel negligentiam corruperit et tamen recuperabilis sit Is navis corruptelam vel fracturam ejusdem per solidam prius recuperet Regique deinde ea quae pro ejusdem munitionis fractura sibimet pertinet ritè persolvat Cap. 24. De Militiam dotractante Si quis de Profectione militari cui Rex intererit sine licentia se substraxerit in detrimentum currat omnium fortunarum These three last Lawes most clearly demonstrate that the Militia and Military affairs of this age with all their Provisions of Arms Ships for defence of the Realm by Land and Sea against the invading Danes and other Enemies with their Military Laws and all other apurtenances thereto belonging were ordered and setled in their General Councils by common consent Cap. 26. Si quis vitae Regis insidiabitur sui ipsius vitae dispendio et quas habet rebus omnibus poenas luito Sin negaverit et purgatione qua licuerit expetierit solemniori eam faciat juramento vel Ordalio triplici juxta legem Anglorum et in Danorum lege prout ipsa statuit Cap. 27. Si quis Christi legibus sive Regis se nefariè opposuerit capitis plectitor aestimatione vel mulctâ aliâ pro delicti qualitate Et si is contrarius rebellare armis nititur et sic occiditur inultus jac eat Cap. 29. Scrutari oportet diligentius unumquemque modis omnibus

him and would not consent to set up Edgar though right heir 10. That after good deliberation all the Nobles Prelates Londoners and others who first appeared for Edgar with the greatest part of the Clergy people of the English Nation without the least fight or resistance or before any siege or summons from him together with Prince Edgar himself voluntarily went out and submitted themselves sware faith and allegeance to him as their Soveraign at Berkhamsted and after that joyfully received him with highest acclamations as their lawfull King at his entry into London 11. That all the Prelates Clergy and Nobility soon after without any coercion upon his foresaid right and Title freely elected and solemnly crowned him as their lawfull King in a due and accustomed manner and then did Homage and swore new Allegiance afresh unto him as their rightful Soveraign 12. That he took the Ordinary Coronation Oath of all lawfull Kings to mainitan and defend the rights persons of all his people to govern them justly c. as became a good King which a King claiming by meer conquest would never do All these particulars are undeniable Evidences that Duke William never made the least pretence claim or title to the Crown and Realm of England only as an absolute Conqueror of the Nation but meerly by Title as their true and lawfull King by designation adoption and cognation seconded with the Nobles Prelates Clergy and peoples unanimous election And although it be true that this Duke ejected Harold and got actual possession of the Throne and Kingdom from him by the sword as did Aurelius Ambrosius and others before and King Henry the 4. Edward the 4. Henry the 7. with others since his reign yet that neither did nor could make him a King by conquest only no more than these other Princes seeing the end of this warr was not against the whoie English Nation the greatest part where of secretly abbetted his interest but only against the unjust Usurper and Intruder King Harold and his adherents not to create a Title to the Realm by his and their Conquest but to remove a Usurper who invaded it without and against all right and to gain the actual possession thereof by arms from which he was unjustly withheld by force against those pretended lawfull Titles which he made So that he got not the Right Title but only the actual possession of the Crown by his Sword not as a universal Conqueror of the Realm without right or Title but as if he had been immediate heir and lawfull Successour to the Confessor who designed him to succeed him For fuller confirmation whereof I shall here subjoin these ensuing proofs 1. King William himself at his very Coronation in London as Mr Cambden informs us said That the kingdom was by Gods providence appointed and by vertue of a gift from his Lord and Cosen King Edward the glorious granted unto him and that this most bounteous King Edward had by adoption ordained him his heir in the kingdom of England 2ly In his Charter to the Church of Westminster he resolves us much in direct terms where he recites In ore gladii Regnum adeptus sum Anglorum devict● Haroldo rege Cum suis complicibus qui mihi Regnum cum providentia Dei destinatum beneficio concessionis Domini Cognati mei gloriosi Edwardi CONCESSUM conati sunt auferre c. So that his Title was from Edward though his possession by the sword 3ly In the very Title of his Laws published in the 4th year of his reign which he was so far from altering that he both by Oath and Act of Parliament ratified confirmed all the Laws and Customs of the Realm used in the Confessors time and before presented by a Grand Enquest unto him out of every County of England upon Oath without any alteration praevarication or diminution he stiles himself or is stiled by the Collector of these Laws HEIR AND COSEN TO Edward the Confessor even in the ancient Manuscript which Sir Henry Spelman hath published Incipiunt Leges S. Edwardi Regis quas in Anglia tenuit quas WILLIELMUS HAERES cognatus suus POSTEA CONFIRMAVIT To which I shall likewise subjoyn the words of the Charter of his Sonn King Henry the 1. Anno 1108. translating the Abbey of Ely into a Bishoprick wherein he gives his Father William the self-same Title Ego Henricus providente divina clementia Rex Anglorum Normannorum Dux Willielmi magni Regis filius QUI EDWARDO REGI HAEREDITAR●O JURE SUCCESCIT IN REGNUM renouncing all Title by conquest and claiming only as Heir to King Edward by Hereditary right 4ly Earl William himself in none of his Charters Writs Speeches Writings ever stiled himself a Conquerour of England nor laid claim to the Crown and Realm of England by Conquest after his inauguration which Title of Conqueror was afterwards out of the flattery or ignorance of the times given unto him by others Therefore the words which the History of St. Stephens in Caen in Normandy reports he used at his last breath The Regal Diadem which none of my Predecessors ever wore I got and gained by the Grace of God only I ordain no man heir of the Kingdom of England which all our Historians unanimously contradict affirming that he ordained VVilliam Rufus his second son particularly to succeed him in it at his death upon which Title only he enjoyed it but I commend the same to the eternal Creator whose I am in whose hands are all things For I became not possessor of so great honour by any hereditary right but by an humble conflict and with much effusion of blood I took it from the perjured King Harold and after I had either slain or put to flight his favourits and Servants I subdued the kingdom to my self must either be reputed false and fabulous as most esteem them or else have this construction that he gained the actuall possession of it against Harold and his adherents only by the Sword and that he had not an hereditary right thereto as next heir by descent to the Crown but only by adoption from and as heir by donation to King Edward as next of kin by the Mothers side which he made his only Title 5ly Those antient English Historians who first gave him the name of Conquerour did it not in a strict proper sence as if he were a meer universal Conquerour of the Nation disposing of all mens Estates persons and the Laws of the Realm at his pleasure for that he never did but only as one who gained the actual possession thereof from a perjured Usurper and his forces by strength of arms conquering them by open battel in the field but still claiming it by gift contract and designation from King Edward as his Kinsman as an heir who forcibly outs a disseisor and intruder comes in by Title and Inheritance only though he gains the possession by force This is

their Coronation Oaths and not arbitrarily or tyrannically according to their pleasures 5. That no Freemen in that age could be justly imprisoned banished or put to death but for some hainous misdemeanors and that by a legal trial and conviction 6. That the Subjects of England then held it their bounden duties in times of forein invasion to defend the Realm their Lives Liberties Properties both by Land and Sea against forein Enemies yet they held themselves dis-obliged and were generally averse to defend the person or Title of any Usurper of the Crown against any forein Prince or other Person who had a better right and title to it 7. That our English Ancestors in that age esteemed their hereditary Liberties good antient Laws and Customs more dear and pretious to them than their very lives and would rather die fighting for their Laws and Liberties like freemen than live under slavery or bondage to any Soveraign whatsoever 8. That the Kings of England in that age could neither give away nor legally dispose of their Crowns Kingdoms or Crown Lands to others without the privity and free consent of their Nobles and Kingdom in general Parliamentary Council as is evident by Harolds answers to VVilliams Embassadours the recited passage of Matthew Paris upon that occasion and this of Samuel Daniel p. 34. So much was done either by King Edward or Harold though neither act if any such were was of power to prejudice the State or alter the course of right succession as gave the Duke a colour to claim the Crown by a donation made by Testament which being against the Law and Custom of the Kingdom could be of no validity at all For the Crown of England being held not as patrimonial but in succession by remotion which is a succeeding to anothers place it was not in the power of King Edward to collate the same by any dispositive and Testamentary Will the right descending to the next of blood only by the Laws and Custom of the Kingdom For the successor is not said to be the Heir of the King but of the Kingdom which makes him so and cannot be put from it by any Act of his Predecessors 9. That the Nobilities Clergies and peoples free-Election hath been usually most endeavoured and sought after by our Kings especially Intruders as their best and surest Title To these Legal I shall only subjoyn some Political and Theological Observations naturally flowing from the premised Histories of King Edward Harold and William not unsuitable to nor unseasonable for the most serious thoughts and saddest contemplations of the present age considering the revolutions and postures of our publike affairs 1. That it is very unsafe and perillous for Princes or States to intrust the Military and Civil power of the Realm in the hands of any one potent ambitious or covetous person who will be apt to abuse them to the peoples oppression the kingdoms perturbation and his Sovereigns affront or danger as is evident by Earl Godwin and his Sons 2. That devout pious soft-natured Princes are aptest to be abused and their people to be oppressed by evil Officers 3. That it is very dangerous and pernicious to heditary kingdoms for their King to die without any certain known and declared right Heirs or Successors to their Crowns yea an occasion of many wars and revolutions as is evident by King Edwards death without issue or declared right heir 4. That right heirs to Crowns who are of tender years weak judgement or impotent in Friends and Purse are easily and frequently put by their rights by bold active and powerfull Intruders as Edgar Atheling was both by Haroid and William successively Yet this is remarkable in both these Invaders of his royal Right 1. That Harold who first dethroned him to make him some kind of recompence and please the Nobles of his party created Edgar Earl of Oxford and held him in special favour 2ly That King Willam the first to whom he submitted himself and did homage and fealty used him very honourably and entertained him in his Court not only at first but even after he had twice taken up armes against him joyning first with the English Nobilitie then with the Danes and Scots against his interest For Edgar coming to him into Normandy Anno 1066. out of Scotland where he lived some years where nihil ad praesens commodi nihil ad futurum spei praeter quotidianam stipem nactus esset he not only pardoned his fore-past offences but magno donativo donatus est pluribusque annis in Curia manens Libram Argenti quotidie in stipendio accipiebat writes Malmesb. receiving a great donative from him and a pound of silver for a stipend every day and continuing many years in his Court. After which Anno 1089. He went into Apulia to the Holy wars by King Williams licence with 200 Souldiers and many Ships whence returning after the death of Robert son of Godwin and the loss of his best Souldiers he received many benefits from the Emperours both of Greece and Germany who endeavoured to retain him in their Courts for the greatness of his birth but he contemning all their proffers out of a desire to enjoy his Native Country returned into England and there lived all Kings Williams reign In the year 1091. Wil. Rufus going into Normandy to take it by force from his brother Robert deprived Edgar of the honour which his Brother with whom he sided had conferred upon him and banished him out of Normandy whereupon he went into Scotland where by his means a peace being made between VVilliam Rufus and Malcholm king of Scots he was again reconciled to Edgar by Earl Roberts means returned into England being in so great favour with the king that in the year 1097. He sent him into Scotland with an Army Ut in ea consobrinum suum Eadgarum Malcholmi Regis filium patruo suo Dufenoldo qui regnum invaserat expulso Regem constitueret Whence returning into England he lived there till after the reign of king Henry the first betaking himself in his old age to a retired life in the Country as Malmesbury thus records Angliam rediit ubi diverso fortunae ludioro rotatus nunc remotus tacitus canos suo in agro consumit Where most probably he died in peace since I find no mention of his death No less than 4 successive kings permitting this right heir to their Crowns to live both in their Courts and Kingdom of England in peace and security such was the Christian Generosity Charity and Piety of that age without reputing it High Treason for any to relieve or converse with him as the Charity of some Saints in this Iron age would have adjudged it had they lived in those times who have quite forgotten this Gospel Lesson of our Savior they then practised But I say unto you love your Enemies do good to those that hate you

which sums I never find paid by his Successors as he prescribed by his Will and Charter too because not confirmed by his great Parliamentary Councils of Prelates and Nobles as his forcited Charter and Peter-pence likewise granted by him were upon this occasion as some record that he being in Rome and seeing there outlawed men doing penance in bonds of Iron purchased of the Pope that Englishmen after that time should never out of their Country do penance in Bonds About the year of our Lord 867. Osbrith King of Northumberland as Bromton records residing at York as he returned from hunting went into the house of one of his Nobles called Bruern Bocard to eat who was then gone to the Sea-coasts to defend it the Ports against Theeves and Pirates as he was accustomed His Lady being extraordinarily beautifull entertained him very honorably at dinner The K. enamored with her beauty after dinner taking her by the hand leads her into her Chamber saying he would speak with her in private and there violently ravished her against her will which done he presently returned to York but the Lady abode at her house weeping and lamenting the deeds of the King whereby she lost her former colour and beauty Her Husband returning and finding her in this sad condition inquired the cause thereof wherewith she fully acquainting him he thereupon cheered her up with comfortable words saying that he would not love her the lesse for it since her weakness was unable to resist the Kings power and vowed by Gods assistance speedily to avenge himself her of the King for this indignity Where upon being a Noble and very potent man of great Parentage he called all his kinsmen and the chief Nobles of his Familie to him with all speed and acquainted them with this dishonour done to him by the king saying he would by all means be avenged thereof and by their Counsel and Consent they went all together to York to the king who when he saw Bruern called him courteously to him But he guarded with his kinred and friends presently defying the King resigned up to him his Homage Fealty Lands and what ever he held of him saying that he would never hold any thing of him hereafter as of his Lord And so without more words or greater stay instantly departed and taking leave of his friends went speedily into Denmark and complained to Codrinus king thereof of the Indignity done by King Osbrith to him and his Lady imploring his aid and assistance speedily to revenge it he being extracted out of his Royal blood The king and Danes hereupon being exceeding glad that they had this inducing cause to invade England presently gathered together a great Army to revenge this Injury done to Bruern being of his Blood appointing his two Brothers Inguar and Hubba most valiant Souldiers to be their Generals who providing Ships and other Necessaries transported an innumerable Army into England and landed them in the Nothern parts This being the true Cause why the Danes at this time invaded England in this manner In the mean time the Parents kindred and Friends of Bruern expelled and rejected King Osbrith for this Injury done to him and his Lady r●fusing to hold their Lands of or to obey him any longer as their Soveraign and advanced one Ella to be King though none of the Royal bloud Our other Historians who mention not this fact of Osbrith and occasion of these Danes arival to revenge it write that the Danes upon their Landing marched to the City of York wasting all the Country before them with fire and Sword unto Tinmouth At that time they write by the Devilsinstinct there was a very great discord raised between the Northumberlanders Sicut semper populo qui odium incurrerit evenire solet For the Northumberlanders at that time had expelled their lawfull King Osbrith out of the Realm and advanced one Ella a Tyrant not of the Royal bloud to the Regal Soveraignty of the Kingdom By reason of which division the Danes taking York ran up and down the Country filling all places with bloud and Grief wasting and burning all the Churches and Monasteries far and near leaving nothing standing but the Walls and ruines of them pillaging depopulating and laying waste the whole Country In which great necessity and distress the Northumberlanders reconciling their two Kings Osbrith and Ella one to another gathered a great Army together against the Danes which their two Kings and eight Earls marched with to York where after a long fight with various success both the said Kings with most of the Northumberlanders were all slain April 11. Anno. 867. The City of York consumed with fire and the whole Kingdom made tributarie to the Danes Simeon Dunelmensis relates that both these kings had violently sacrilegiously taken away certain Lands from S. Cuthberts Church in Durham for Osbrit had by a sacrilegious attempt taken away Wirce wood and Tillemouth and Ella Billingham Heclif and Wigeclif Creca from S. Cuthbert tandem cum maximâ parte suorum ambo praefati Reges occubuerunt Injurias quas Ecclesiae sancti Cuthberti aliquando irrogaverant vitâ privati regno persolverurt Which the Author of the History of St. Cuthbert observes and records more largely as a punishment of their sacrilegious Rapine The Danes hereupon made Egbert king of Northumberland as a Tributary and Viceroy under them Sic Northumbria bellico jure obtenta barbarorum dominium multo post tempore pro conscientiâ libertatis Ingemuit writes Malmesbury de Gestis Regum Angliae l. 2. c. 3. p. 42. These rebellious Northumberlanders about 7 years after uno conspirantes consilio expelled Egbert the Realm by unanimous consent together with Archbishop Wilfer making one Richius King in his Place the Danes both then and long after possessing and wasting their Country and slaughtering them with fire and sword as the Marginal Historians record more then any other parts of the Iland by a just divine punishment for their manifold Treasons Seditions Factions Rebellions against and Murders of their Soveraigns In the year 868. a great Army of these victorious plundering Danes marched out of the Kingdome of Northumberland to Nottingham which they took and there wintered Whereupon Beorred or Brithred King of Mercians Onmesque ejusdem gentis Optimates and all the Nobles of that Nation assembled together Where the King Consilium habuit cum suis Comitibus comilitonibus omni populo sibi subjecto Quasitèr inimicos bellicâ virtute exuperaret sive de Regno expelleret held a Council with his Earls and fellow Souldiers and all the people subject to him how he might vanquish these Enemies with military power or drive them out of the Realm By whose advice he sent Messengers to Ethelred King of the West-Saxons and to his Brother Elfrid humbly requesting them that they would assist and joyn with him against the Danish Army which

malis accessit civilis discordia adeò ut quis cui crederet quis cui mentis suae secreta commit●eret nesciretur Plena erat proditoribus Insula nusquam tuta fides nusquam sine suspitione amor Sermo sine simulatione Tandem cousque Proditio Civilis et astutia Processit hostilis ut ac functo Rege Magna pars Insulae legitimis abdicatis haeredibus Cnutoni qui Regnum invaserat manus darent peremptoque invictissimo Rege Edmundo paterni honoris simul et laboris haerede etiam Filios ejus ad●uc in cunis agentes barbaris mitterent occidendos King Cnute hearing this their palpable flattery and contemptuous rejection of Edwin and the Saxon regal Line went joyfully into his Chamber and calling perfidious Duke Edric to him demanded of him how he might deceive Prince Edwin so as to have him murthered Who thereupon informed him how and by whom his murder might be accomplished by promised rewards of money and preferments which was accordingly effected soon after by Cnutes procurement and command This Edric likewise perswaded Cnute to slay Prince Edward and Edmond King Edmonds sons Whereupon Statuit Cnuto mirabiliter in animo suo omne genus Gentis Regni Anglorum perdere vel exilio perenni eliminare ut regnum Angliae filiis suis jure haer●ditario reservare curaret writes Matthew Westminster p. 402. But because it might seem a great disgrace to him to murder these infant Princes in England he afterwards sent them over Sea to King Swane to slay them in Denmark who abhorring the fact instead thereof sent them to Solomon King of Hungary to be preserved and educated Cnute having thus through the flattery perjury and treachery of the English Prelates and Nobles gained the intire Monarchy of England flew or banished all those perfidious English Sycophants temporizers who had the chiefest hand in this false testimony abjuration treacherous bloudy advice against the Saxon Royal Family by whose Counsel he slew or banishe● all the blood-royal of the Realm of England that so he might Iure Haereditario reserve and perpetuate the kingdom to his own Posterity by an hereditary right Duke Edric the principal of them for this and his other Treasons forementioned was deprived of his Dukedom of Mercia and exemplarily executed as a most perfidious Traytor by Cnutes command the first year of his reign and many of his Captains and followers were slain with him of which at large before Mort●m Proditoris pro demeritis accepit laqueo suspensus et in Tamesin fluvium projectus Cum quo plurimis sattellitum suorum similiter occisis e●iam inter eos praecipuus et primus Normannus occisus est writes Abbot Ingulphus Turkell Duke of East-England and Hirc Duke of Northumberland were both banished the Realm Duke Norman and Bridric slain and a heavy Tax of 82 Thousand pounds besides 10000 pounds imposed on London alone imposed and levied on the whole Nation Quomam igitur proprii sanguinis proditores adulantes Regi mentiti sunt in caput suum 〈…〉 eorum intra it in cor eorum et à Cnutho quem naturalibus Dominis praetulerunt confractus e●● arcus eorum Cum 〈…〉 Insulae fa●en●ibus illis obtin●isset Omnes qui primi in illo fuere consilio exterminavit ●t quo●quo● de regi● 〈◊〉 super●●ites reperit vel regno repulit vel occidit as Abbot Ethelred records to posterity To which Henry Huntindon and Henry de Knyghton subjoyn Posteà vero Rex justo Dei judicio dignant retributionem nequitiae Anglis reddidit Ipse namque Rex Cnute Edricum occidit quia timebat ab insidiis ab eo aliquando circumveniri sicut Domini sui priores Ethelredus Edmondus frequenter sunt circumventi quorum diutina proditione alterum vexavit alterum interfecit add ●lorentius Wigorniensis Simeon Dunelmensis Roger de Hoveden and Radulphus de Diceto Turkellum exulavit Hirc fugere compulit Praeterea summos Procerum aggressus Normannum Ducem interfecit Edwi Adeling exterminavit Adelwoldum detruncavit Edwi Churleging exulavit Birdric ferro vita privavit Aethelwardus filius Agelmari Ducis et Brihtricus filius Alphegi Domnaniensis Satrapae sine culpa interfecti sunt Fecit quoque per Angliam mirabilem Censum reddi scilicet 82. some write 72. mille librarum praeter undecies mille libri quas Londinensis reddiderunt Dignum igitur exactorem Dominus Iustus Anglis imposuit for rejecting their own Hereditary Soveraign Line Radulphus Cestrensis englished by Trevisa Fabian and Grafton thus second them Also they swore that they would in all wise put off Edmonds kinn They trowed thereby to be great with the King afterward but it fared farr otherwise For many or the more part of them specially such as Canutus perceived were sworn before to Edmond and his heirs he mistrusted and disdained ever after Therefore some of them were slain by Gods rightfull dome and some banished and exiled and put out of the Land and some by Gods punishment died suddenly and came to a miserable end which other of our Historians likewise register I shall desire all such who are guilty of the like Treachery Flattery Practice or Advice against their lawfull Sovereigns royal Posterity advisedly to ponder this sad domestick President in their most retired Meditations for fear they incur the like divine retaliation by Gods rightful doom when and by whom they least suspect or fear it King Cnute thus quit of all King Edmonds Sons Brethren kinred and likewise of the greatest English Dukes and Nobles who might endanger his Life Crown and new-acquired Monarchy in the next place contrived how to secure his Empire against Prince Alfred and Edward Edmonds Brothers then in Normandy with Queen Emma their Mother and their Uncle Richard Duke of Normandy a person of great valour power and interest the only person likely to attempt their restitution to the kingdom and Crown of England For which end he by gifts Ambassies and fair promises procures Earl Richards consent to bestow his Sister Queen Emma upon him for his wife who ariving in England in July 1018. was presently maried to this Invader of her former Husbands kingdom his sons royal throne and murderer banisher dishinheriter of his and her royal Posterity whereby her Brother Duke Richards thoughts were wholly diverted from ayding his Nephews to recover their right in England Ex hinc cum Cnutoni omnia pro voto cessissent timens Ne Haetes legitimus Regnum quod sibi de Iure debebatur aliquando Normanica fretus vir●ute Reposceret ●t Ducis sibi arctius colligaret affectum Emmam defuncti Regis relictam duxit uxorem Whereupon De illorum Elfredi Edwardi restitutione Richardū avunculum nihilegisse comperimus quia et sororem suam Emmam hosti et invasori nuptam collocavit Ignores majori illius dedecore qui dederit an foeminae quae conse●serat ut thalamo illius caleret

occidendum non rati slew and cut off the heads of all his Servants and Courtiers as well English as Danes being above 200. on the North part of the river of Humber then breaking up his Treasury they took away all his Treasures Horses Armes houshold-stuff and all things that were his The rumor whereof being brought to the King and the Country in an uproar almost all the Nortkumberlanders met together and elected constituted Morchar Earl Algarus son for their Earl in the place of Tosti who marched with them into Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire wasted and pillaged those Counties slew many of the Inhabitants and carryed many thousands of them away captive leaving those Counties much impoverished many years after Hereupon Harold was sent against them to revenge those injuries to prevent further mischiefs and to mediate a reconciliation between them and Tosti Upon this the Northumberlanders met Harold first at Northampton and afterwards at Oxford and although they were more in number than he yet being desirous of quietness and peace they excused the fact unto him saying Se homines liberè natos liberè educatos nullius Ducis ferociam pati posse A majoribus didicisse aut Libertatem aut Mortem c. That they being men freely born freely educated could not suffer the cruelty of any Duke That they had learned of their ancestors either to enjoy Liberty or death Therefore if the King would have them his Subjects he must set another Earl over them even Morehar who had had experience how sweetly they knew to obey if they were sweetly handled But all of them unanimously refused any reconciliation at all with Tosti whom they Dutlawed together with all those who had incited him to make an unjust Law and impose an illegal Tribute upon them Harold hearing these things and minding more the Peace of the Country than his brothers profit recalled his Army and the King having heard their answer confirmed Morchar for their Duke Tosti hateful to all men by the assistance of Earl Edwin was expelled out of England by the Northumberlanders and driven with his wife and children into Flanders whence returning about two years after and joyning with the Danes he entred with the Danes into Northumberland miserably harrowed the whole Country slaughtered the inhabitants and at last was there slain with most of his Souldiers by his own brother King Harold Anno 1066. King Edward as Abbot Ingulphus living in that age records Anno 1065. being burdened with old age perceiving Prince Edgar Atheling his Cosen Edwards son lately dead to be unfit for the royal throne tamcorde quam corpore as well in respect of minde as body and that Earl Godwins many and wicked progeny did daily increase upon the earth set his mind upon his Cosen William Duke of Normandy et enm sibi succedere in Regnum Angliae voce stabili sancivit and decreed by a stable vote that he should succeed him in the Realm of England For Duke William was then superiour in every battel and a triumpher against the King of France and his fame was publickly blazed abroad amongst all the Earls of Normandy who were next him being invincible in the exercise of Arms Iuder justissimus in causarum judicie a most just Judge in the judging of causes and most religious and most devout in the service of God Hereupon King Edward sent Robert Archbishop of Canterbury to him as his Legate a Latere or special Embassador illumque designatum sui regni Successorem tam debito cognationis quam merito virtutis suae Archipraesulis relatu insinuavit and intimated unto him by the relation of his Archbishop that he had designed him to be the Successor of his Realm as well by the debt of kinred as by the merit of Virtue Moreover Harold the Major of the Kings Court comming into Normandy not only swore that he would conserve the Kingdom of England for Duke William after the Kings death but likewise promised upon Oath that he would take the daughter of Duke William for his wife and upon these promises returned home magnificently rewarded After which he subjoins Edwardi piissimi Regis cujus cognatione et consanguinitate inclytus Rex noster Willelmus fundat conscientiam suam regnum Angliae invadendi caeteris Regibus de Danorum sanguine quasi nullius authoritatis ad allegandum interim intermissis William of Malmsbury who flourished in or near that very age thus seconds him After the death of Edward his son Edgar was Neque promptus manu neque probus ingenio Rex itaque defuncto cognate quia spes prioris erat soluta suffragii Willielmo comiti Normanniae successionem Angliae dedit Erat ille hoc munere dignus praestans animi juvenis qui in supremum fastigium alacri labere excreverat Praetere● proxime consanguineus filius Roberti filius Richardi secundi quem fratrem fuisse Emmae matris Edwardi non s●mel est quod diximus Ferunt quidam ipsum Haroldum a Rege in h●c Normanniam missum alii secretioris consilii conscii invitum venti violentia illuc actum quose tueretur invenisse commentum quod quia propius vero videtur exponam Harold comming to his farm at Boseam going for his recreation into a fisher-boat and putting forth into the Sea in sport was by asudden contrary storm arising driven with his companions into the Village of Ponthieu in France where he was stripped and bound hand and foot by the rude Country people and carried Prisoner to Guido their Earl who detained him in Prison to gain a ransom from him whereupon Harold being of a subtil wit studying how to relieve himself by large promises procured a Messenger to inform Duke William that he was sent by the King into Normandy that what lesser Messengers had but muttered touching his Succession to the Crow● of England he might perform by his presence especially that he was detained in bonds by Earl Guido wherby he was hindered to deliver his message notwithstanding his appeal to him which was a great diminution to his honor and if his captivity were to be redeemed with monie he would willingly give it to him and not to Guido Upon which he was by Duke Williams command released brought by Guido into Normandy and there nobly feasted by the Duke where by his valour and policy he gained great reputation with Duke William and that he might more indear himself in his favour he there voluntarily of his own accord confirmed to him the Castle of Dover which belonged to him of right and the Kingdom of England after King Edwards decease whereupon the Duke espoused him to his daughter Adeliza then a child and bestowed her whole ample portion upon Harold and then honourably dismissed him Matthew Westminster Anno 1057. relating this Story of Harolds driving into Ponthieu by storm against his will as hapning in that year and that to ingratia●e himself with Duke William Post mortem

Regis Edwardi ei Regnum Angliae Sacramento firmavit subjoyns thereto Tradunt autem aliter alii quod videlicet Haroldus a Rege Edwardo fuerat ad hoc in Normanniam missus ut Ducem Gulihelmum in Angliam conduceret quem idem Rex Edwardus Haeredem sibi constituere cogitavit Roger de Hoved. Annal. pars prior p. 449. Radulph de Diceto Abbr. Chron. col 480 481. Eadmerus Hist Novorum l. 1. p. 4 5. Sim. Dunel Hist col 195. Jo. Bromton in his Chronicle col 947. Hygden in his Polychron l. 6. c. 27. with others record the matter somewhat different from our other Historians That Harold after his Fathers death craving leave of King Edward to goe into Normandy to free and bring into England his Brother Wulnoth Nephew Hake there detained Hostages the King would not permit him to goe as sent by him but yet left him free to do what he pleased of himself therein Adding Praesentio tamen te ad nihil aliud tendere nisi in detrimentum totius Anglioi regni et opprobrium tui nec enim ita novi Comitem mentis expertem ut eos aliquatenus velit concedere tibi si non praescierit in hoc magnum proficuum sui Harold notwithstanding taking ship to go into Normandy upon this occasion was driven by storm into Ponthieu and there imprisoned as aforesaid and by Duke Williams means and threats after two denials released who honourably entertaining him for some dayes to advance his own designs by him at last opened his minde thus to him Dicebat itaque Regem Edwardum quando secum invene olim juvenis in Normanni● demoraretur sibi interposita fide sua pollicitum fuisse quod si Rex Angliae foret Jus regni in illum Jure Haereditario transferret subdens ait tu quoque si mihi te in hoc ipso adminiculaturum sposponderis et insuper castellum Dofri● cum put●● aquae ad opus meum te facturum s●roremque tuam uni de Principibus m● is dederis in ux●rem te ad me temp●r● qu● nobis conveniet destinaturum nec non filiam means in conjugem accepturum promiseris tunc et modo nepotem tuum et cum in Angliam vener● regnaturus fratrem tuum incolumem recipies in quo regno si tuo favore confirmatus fuero spondeo quod omne quod à me rationabiliter tibi postulaveris obtinebis Hereupon Harold perceiving danger on every side and not knowing how to escape unless he condescended to Williams will in all things he thereupon consented to his requests But he that all things might be ratified bringing forth the reliques of Saints brought Harold to this That he should swear upon them that he would actually perform all things which they had agreed between them These things thus done Harold receiving his Nephew returned into his Country where he related to the King upon his demand what had happened and what hee had done Who said Did I not tell thee I knew William and that many mischiefs might happen to this kingdom in thy journey I foresee in this thy deed that great calamities will come upon our Nation which I beseech God of his infinite mercy to grant that they may not happen in my dayes Mr. Fox relating this story more briefly concludes thus Whereby it may be ●athered That King Edward was right willing that Duke William should reign after him and also in seemeth not unlike but that he had given him his promise thereunto before The same Hoveden Annalium pars posterior p. 608 609 610. reciting the Laws of King Edward confirmed by King William after he got the Crown records these passages intermixed with them That King Edward retained his Cosen Edwards son Edgar with him and nourished him for his Son and because he thought to make him his Heir he named him Ad●ling which we call a Little Lord. But King Edward so soon as he knew the wickednesse of his Nation and especially the pride of the Sons of Godwin of Harold who after invaded the Kingdom Estigurt Lefwin and others of his Brothers imagining that what he had purposed concerning Edgar could not possibly be stable Adoptavit Willielmum Ducem Normannorum in regnum adopted William Duke of Normandy to succeed him in the Realm William I say the bastard the son of Robert his Uncle a valiant warlike and stout man Who afterwards by Gods assistance by vanquishing the foresaid Harold son of Godwin victoriously obtained the Realm of England To which he subjoyns That Edward wanting issue sent Robert Archbishop of Canterbury to his Cosen William Duke of Normandy de Regno cum constituit Haeredem and made him heir of the Kingdom yea after him he sent Earl Har●ld and He invaded the Realm He further Records That when King William would have altered the Laws of England presented to him upon Oath in the 4th year of his reign but in one point Universi compatriotae qui leges edixerant tristes effecti c. tandem eum prosecuti sunt deprecantes quatenus pro anima Regis Edwardi qui ei post diem suum concesserat Coronam et Regnum et cujus erant Leges that he would not alter the Laws herein whereupon he consented to their request Thomas of Walsingham thus registers the fact Edwardus Rex Anglorum prolis successione carens olim miserat Duci Robertum Archiepiscopum Cantuar. statuens illum haeredem Regni a Deo sibi attributi Sed et Haroldum ipse postmodum destinavit qui fuit maximus Comitum regni sui in honore dominatione et divitiis ut ei de Corona sua fidelitatem faceret ac Christiano more Sacramentis confirmaret Qui dum ob hoc negotii venire contenderet velificato freto Porti Pontnium appulit ubi in manus Widonis Abbatis villae S. Abvile Comitis incidit quem idem Comes captum cum suis confestim in custodiam trusit Quod ut Dux comperit missis Legatis violenter illum extorsit quem aliquandiu secum morat● facto fidelitate de regno pluribus Sacramentis cum muneribus multis Regi remisit Denique Rex Edwardus completo termino foelicis vitae c. migravit a saeculo Cujus regnum Har●ldus continuo invasit ex fidelitate pejuratus quam Duci Iuraverat Ad quem Legatos direxit protinus hortans ut ab hac vesania resipisceret fidem quam Iuramento sposponderat cum digna subjectione servarer Sed ille hoc non solum audire contempsit verum omnem ab illo Anglorum gentem infideliter avertit c. Chronicon Johannis Bromton Col. 945. relates That King Edward purposed to make Edgar whom he had nourished as his Son heir of England Sed ut quidam aiunt Rex gentis suae malitiam et praecipuè superbiam Haroldi filii Godwini et aliorum divina demonstratione praevidens percepit quod propositum suum quoad ipsum Edgarum cognatum suum de regno post

Superbia elatus jam factus de Rege Tyrannus Rex Haroldus in multis patrisans temerarius suit et indiscretus in praesumptione ancipiti nimis suae invictae confidens fortitudini laudis cupidus et Thesauri promiss●rum immemor arridente prosperitate Unde ipsis Anglis quibus praeerat etiam consanguineis se praebuerat odiosum victoriamque cum illi Dominus exercituum et Deus ultionum concesserat non Deo sed sibi suaeque ascripsit strenuitati Quod recenti experientia fuerat comprobatum cum a Noricis evictis Superbus spoliisque omnium retentis quae aliis promissa debebantur ad Normannorum praelia praecipitanter et inconsultè festinavit Unde Ducis Gulihelmi maguanimi in negotiis bellicis peragendis et circumspecti fidelis in pollicitis in pace socialis jucundi in conviviis dapsilis et sereni omnibus fere tam Anglis quam conterminis maxime tamen Noricis acceptabatur Recipientes eum benevole dic●bant Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini Rex pacificus bellator victoriosus pater protector desolatorum Dominus autem Papa simulque fratres Cardinales universi cum tota Curia Romana Regem Haroldum semper exosum habentes pro eo quod sibimet diadema Regni sine eorum convenientia et ecclesiastica solemnitate consensuque Pralatorum praesumpserat injuriam dissimularunt Et videntes quo fine ausa praesumptio terminaretur cum fortuna adversasunt adversati potentiorique manu atque victrici more cupidorum vel potius arundinis exagitatae ventorum turbine quantocius inclinaverunt Such was the Popes Clergies temper then Duke William being certainly informed that Harold contrary to his Oath and promise to him had without right or Title invaded the Crown and being secretly invited by some of the English Nobles to challenge his own right thereunto by Kings Edwards designation sent Messengers to Harold who mildly reprehending him for his breach of Covenant added by way of menace that he would before the year expired exact his due from him by force of arms in case he refused voluntarily to yield up the kingdom to him But Harold growing secure contemning his threats as never likely to be put in execution both because the Dukes daughter to whom he was espoused was dead and himself involved in wars with his Neighbour Princes returned his Messengers to him with this answer Harold King of England sends you this answer That true it is when he espoused your daughter in Normandy being compelled by necessity He sware that the Realm of England should belong to thee But against this he asserts That a forced Oath is not to be kept For if a vow or oath which a Virgin had knowingly made concerning her body in the house of her Father without her parents consent was revocable and void much more the Oath which he being under the Scepter of the King had made without his knowledge by compulsion ought to be nulled and made voyd as he asserted Moreover he affirmed Nimis praesumptuosum fuisse quod absque generali Consensu Regni Haereditatem vobis juraverat alienandam Addidit etiam Injustum esse petere ut e regno discedat quod tanto Principum favore susceperat gubernandum That it was overmuch presumption in him that without the general consent of the Realm he had sworn the inheritance thereof should be alienated to him That King Edward being then living he could neither give away the Kingdoms succession to him non grant it to any other without his consent et sine popull consensu Senatus Decreto et nesciente omni Anglia de toto Regno necessitate temporis coactus impegerit and without the consent of the people and decree of the SENATE or Parliament he could not promise to him the whole Realm of England without the knowledg of all England being compelld therto only by the necessity of the time Adding moreover that it was unjust to demand that he should depart from that kingdom which he had undertaken to govern with so great favour of the Nobles Eadmerus Radulphus de Diceto and some others record this to be his Answer then returned to Duke William Soror mea quam juxta condictum expetis mortua e●● Quod si corpus ejus quale nunc est vult Comes habere mittam ne judicer Sacramentum violasse quod feci Castellum Dofris et in eo puteum aquae licet nesciam cui ut vobis convenit explevi Regnum quod necdum fuit meum quo Iure potui dare vel promittere Si de filia sua quam debui in uxorem ut asserit ducere agit Super Regnum Angliae mulierem extraneam inconsultis Principivus me nec debere nec sine grandi injuria posse adducere noverit The Norman who till then thought England sure to be his and had devoted his hopes from a Duke to a King stormed to see himself thus frustrated on a sudden and instead of a Crown to have such scorns heaped on his head therefore nothing content with this slight and scornfull answer returnd his Ambassadors again to Harold by whom he laid his claim more at large As that King Edward in the Court of France had faithfully promised the Succession unto him and again ratified the same unto him at his being in England and that not done without consent of the State but confirmed by Stigand it should be Robert ArchArchbishop of Canterbury the Earls Godwin and Siward yea and by Harold himself and that so firmly assured that his Brother and Nephew were delivered for pledges and for that end sent to him into Normandy that he being no way constrained to swear as he pretended he appealed to Harolds own Conscience who besides his voluntary offer to swear the succession of the Crown unto him contracted himself to Adeliza his daughter then but young upon which foundation the Oath was willingly taken But Harold who thought his own head as fit for a Crown as any others meant nothing less than to lay it down upon parly and therefore told Williams Embassadours plainly That however Edward and he had tampered for the Kingdom yet Edward himself coming in by election and not by any Title of Inheritance his promise was of no validity for how could he give that wherein he was not interested nor in the Danes time was likely to be and tell yout Duke that our Kingdom is now brought to a setled estate and with such love and liking of the English as that they will never admit any more a stranger to rule over them That the Duke himself well knew that the Oath he made him was only for fear of death or imprisonment and that an Oath so extorted in time of extremity cannot bind the maker in Conscience to perform it for that were to joyn one sin with another With which and the like Speeches he shifted off the Dukes Embassadours without any Princely entertainment or courteous regard who returned home

Pavillion there came a voice unto him saying William William be thou a good man because thou shalt obtain the Crown of the Realm and shalt be King of England and when thou shalt vanquish the enemy cause a Church to be built in the same place in my name so many hundred foot in length as in number of years the seed of thy bloud shall possess the Government of the Realm of England and reign in England an 150. years But q Matthew Westminster writes this voice was after the battel with Harold not before it and the subsequent words in Knyghton touching his march to London import as much Harold residing in the North after his great victory there when he deemed all his Enemies totally broken in pieces received certain intelligence that Duke William was safely arived at Pevensey with his Fleet and an innnmerable company of valiant Horsemen Slingers Archers and Footmen whom he had hired out of all France Whereupon he presently marched with his army in great haste towards London and although he well knew that most of the valiant men in all England were slain in the two late Battels against Tosti and the Danes that many of the Nobility and Common Souldiers had quite deserted him refusing to march with him in that necssity because he permitted them not to share with him in the great booties they had won with their bloud and that half his Army were not come together yet he resolved forthwith to march into Sussex against the Enemy and fight them with those small forces tired he then had being most of them Mercenaries and Stipendiaries except those English Noblemen Gentlemen and Freemen who enflamed with the love and liberty of their Native Country voluntarily engaged themselves with him in the defence thereof against the common dangerous invading Enemy rather than to support his usurped Diadem and Royalty over them of which number there were very few f Immo vero panoi et manu promptissimi fuere qui charitati corporum renunciantes Propatria animas posuerunt Nampraeter S●ipendiarios et Mercinario● milites paucos admodum ex comprovincialibus habuit Praecipitabant eum nimium fata ut nec auxilia convocari vellet nec si vellet multos parituros invenerat Ita omnes ei erant infensi quod solus manubiis Borealibus incubuerat Unde cum suis quos ductabat astutia Gulielmi ●ircumventus fusus est levi videlicet belli negoti● sed occulto et stupendo Dei consilio quod nunquam posteà Angli Communi praelio in libertatem spiraverint quasi cum Haraldo omne robur deciderit Angliae quae certe Potuit et debuit etiam per inertissimos solvere paenas perfidiae Yet Thomas of Walsingham and some others write that Harold had gathered together an innumerable company of Englishmen against Duke William and the multitudes of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of England slain in the Battel besides those who fled from it and could not come to fight manifest his Army not to be so small as these Authors would make it only to augment the Englishmens valour and ecclipse the Normans as overcomming them more by stratagem and multitude than true fortitude Whiles Harold was in his march towards William within 9 miles of his Fort in Sussex he sent out Scouts before him to discover the forces and numbers of the Enemy who being intercepted and brought to William he caused them to be led about his tents that they might well view his Army and then being bountisully feasted he commanded them to be sent back to their Master without any harm Who returning to Harold commending the Dukes magnificence martial prowess and clemency seriously affirmed that all his Souldiers seemed to be Priests because their faces and both their lips were shaven which kind of shaving none of the English then used but their Priests only Upon which Harold smiling at the Scouts simplicity replied They were not effeminate Priests but Souldiers of great and valourous minds invincible in arms Whereupon Girth Harolds younger Brother a man of great knowledge and valour beyond his years taking the Speech out of his mouth said Seeing you commend the valour of the Normans to be so great I hold it unadvised rashnesse for you to fight with them to whom you may be reputed inferiour both in merit and valour Neither are you able to gainsay but that you took an Oath to William to reserve the Crown to his use voluntarily or unvoluntarily Wherefore you shall doe more advisedly to withdraw your self out of the field in this instant necessity ne si perjurus decertans vel fugam vel mortem incurras lest fighting perjured you incurre either flight or death and the whole Army perish for your sin of Perjury seeing there is no fighting against God Therefore expect the issue of the battel without danger For we are altogether free from any Oath justum suscipimus bellum pro Patria pugnaturi and have undertaken a just warr to fight for our Country If we fight alone without thee thy cause shall prosper better and thou shalt be more safe whatever befallius For if we fly thou maist be able to succour and restore us and if we be slain thou maist revenge us But such was Harolds unbridled rashness that he would not give a pleasing ear to this admonition esteeming it inglorious and a great dishonour to his former life and valour to turn his back to any Enemy or danger Whiles these discourses passed between them in comes a Monk sent by Duke William claiming the kingdom as his Because King Edward had granted it to him by advice of Archbishop Stigand and of the Earls Godwin and Siward and had sent the Son and Nephew of Godwin hostages thereof into Normandy But to avoid effusion of Christian bloud the Monk brought him these three profers Either to depart with the Realm to William according to his Oath and agreement Or to hold the Kingdom from and reign under him Or finally to determine the controversie between them two by a single Duc● in the view of both their 〈◊〉 But Harold out of a strange imp●udence impudence pride of heart as one whom the heavens would depresse accepting neither domestick counsel nor the Normans offer would neither vouchsafe to look upon the Messenger with a good countenance nor discourse with him in milde terms but sending him away with indignation prayed only thus That God would judge between him and his Master William To whom the Monk boldly replying required that if he would deny the right of William he should either reserr it to the Judgement of the S●e Ap●stolick or else to battel if he had rather by which he asserted that William was ready to trie his Title But Harold answering nothing to those his Proposals but what he had done before went within little of laying violent hands upon the Embassador commanding William with violent terms and menaces to depart his kingdom